Last week the file sharing Bittorrent client that pays users for seeding and sharing bandwidth, Joystream, announced launching on the bitcoin cash (BCH) network. We decided to give the platform a test drive to show how to use the application that offers BCH incentives.

Joystream and Bitcoin Cash Mainnet

Joystream is a peer-to-peer application that uses bitcoin cash as an incentive for Bittorrent users that compensate each other for content within a distributed network. Originally the team started off with an attempt to use the bitcoin core (BTC) network but fees and transaction confirmation times became unreliable. On March 20 the application has launched on the Bitcoin Cash mainnet and is available for download in Mac, Windows, and Linux operating systems (OS).

Experimenting With Joystream

Joystream & Bitcoin Cash

After downloading the appropriate platform for your OS and opening the software, users are greeted with a “terms of use” page, which asks the user to accept full responsibility when using the Joystream software. This would likely be due to seeders sharing copyrighted materials as there is no discretion to what you can or cannot download and upload. The platform also has an onboarding BCH faucet for users to test out the clients’ features and services. When I first opened the Joystream user interface, the faucet gave me $0.30 cents worth of BCH for purchasing files on the platform.

The interface is basically the same as any torrent engine that allows seeding and downloading all types of content. The difference is that you get a bitcoin cash wallet, and can earn small fractions of BCH by seeding material. You can also charge a fee for sharing rare material or other types of popular content. To start the experiment, Joystream gives you around five free torrent files so you can start downloading and seeding once the file is finished. There is also an upload section where a user can drag a downloaded torrent file or upload via a mirror.

The free content Joystream provides for testing.

I decided to go to my favorite torrent site and tapped a free ‘Kung-Fu Training Guide’ mirror. As soon as I did my computer asked me if I wanted to utilize Joystream for the upload process.

Joystream works with torrent mirrors, and the application will open as soon as you authorize it.

I initiated the process, and the upload began just like any other torrent engine. It shows the number of seeders and sellers in the download section and the revenue and the number of buyers in the upload section. If I wanted to sell the ‘Kung-Fu Training Guide’ book I could set any price I desired for seeding it to my peers. It’s likely that better content, or some exclusive material could be more valuable to Joystream users.

A Few Features to Wait for in the Next Version Release

So far there is not much content on the platform, but it’s evident Joystream users are experimenting with the protocol from the discussions within the community Telegram and Slack channels. The BCH faucet and free content in the beginning, however, is more than enough for users to learn how to tinker with the application, and torrent savvy users will have no issues.

The Joystream BCH wallet can send and receive and also shows prior transactions.

At the time of publication, there are three sections which are unavailable at the moment which include the ‘new content tab, the publishing tab, and the live streaming tab’ which can be used to stream content like music and movies. These three features will be launched in the next release, the developers explain.

Overall the platform was straightforward and operated much like the Utorrent, Vuze, and Limewire software. Being the first day and the initial version release it should be expected that the content is lacking. The next hurdle for the team will likely be launching the following version with the rest of the features, and hoping the concept of rewarding seeders with crypto catches people’s attention.

What do you think about the Joystream app? Do you think an idea like this will catch on with seeders and those who use torrent software? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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Jamie Redman

Jamie Redman is a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source code, and decentralized applications. Redman has written thousands of articles for news.Bitcoin.com about the disruptive protocols emerging today.

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